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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Look At The Sky - January

Well, this does not happen often....there are TWO full
moons in January 2018 which is somewhat rare in itself (two full moons in the
same month result in the second being called the "Blue Moon"), and
each one of them just happens to be near its closest point to Earth in its
27.5-day orbit around our planet! Two
full moons, two Super moons and one Blue Moon.
Look to the sky on 2 Jan and on 31 Jan.

AND there is a total lunar eclipse on the 31st for north-western
North America, the Pacific, Asia, and Australia.

The Planets for January:

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A VERY COLD month, and mostly devoid of bright planets
for the early evening hours this year.
Two very interesting very close conjunctions take place this month!

Mercury - Mercury is very close to the eastern horizon in
bright dawn skies, and is very closely in conjunction with the ringed planet
SATURN on Jan. 13, much like Mars and Jupiter (below); after mid-month the
innermost planet will again move eastward toward the horizon and be hidden by
the sun's glare at late month. Both
Mercury and Saturn will rise about the first light of dawn, 6 a.m., on Jan. 13
- in SAGITTARIUS

Venus - our brightest planet will not be favorably placed
in either morning nor evening skies this month due to proximity to the sun - in
SAGITTARIUS.

Mars - A spectacular sight awaits all during the first
two weeks of this year, when bright reddish MARS moves eastward in the very
early morning skies and appears to overtake mighty yellow JUPITER. For each day after the first of the year,
look for Mars to edge more toward Jupiter until the two are actually within the
SAME telescopic field of view, only 0.2 degrees apart on January 7. Both rise at about 4 a.m. local time and will
be high above the eastern horizon before morning twilight. Mars will be much smaller (less than 5"
arc) in the telescope against huge Jupiter (over 40" arc across) but both
will be brilliant and in stark contrast in terms of color; Mars will continue a
slow trek each following morning toward the east. - in LIBRA

Jupiter - Now rising in the EAST about 4 a.m. local time,
the largest of all planets will be high in the east at dawn, although not so
large as it will become as the earth-Jupiter distance decreases over the coming
months...it will be high enough for telescopic observations by dawn. See MARS above for the spectacular telescopic
conjunction on Jan. 7 - in LIBRA

Saturn - Very low in eastern skies and rising about 6
a.m. local time, the ringed planet will make its yearly debut in predawn skies
by mid-month; see MERCURY above for info on the Jan. 13 close conjunction! - in
OPHIUCHUS

Uranus - distant planet Uranus is overhead about 6 p.m..
local time and is setting in western skies as midnight approaches, It shines at magnitude 5.9, bright enough to
spot in good binoculars if one knows where to look; use a good planetarium sky
program or GO TO telescope to locate this distant world; by sunrise it is high
in dark skies and will show a faint, blue disk in large telescopes - PISCES

Neptune - look for
faint Neptune in large telescopes at mid-month south and far west of overhead
about dusk local time.(mag. 7.6), setting about the time the skies get dark. -
in AQUARIUS

Pluto - at magnitude 14.3, our most distant planet
(yes....it is a planet) will not be
visible in telescopes because of its proximity to the sun. - in SAGITTARIUS

METEOR SHOWERS for January 2018: .

Observe when the moon does not interfere and attempt to
observe AFTER midnight for most meteors to be seen! There are a few notable meteor showers that
peak each January:

January 3-4 - QUADRANTID METEORS - The moon will be at a
nearly full phase and dominate the skies for most of this evening for this
year's showing of this meteor shower.
Always a chance for quite a show...the best that January has to offer
each year, but in 2018 the moon will hamper observation of these meteors. With an incredible short and fast maximum
peak of 40 or more meteors possible, it will come and go in a flash (about the
time that the sky reaches peak darkness after sunset on the 3rd. In some years under dark skies, observers
have seen up to 600 members of this stream per hour, all traveling at a medium
speed of about 41 kps. Most are very
faint, remember, and distinctly blue in color, so fast film is desired if
photographing these meteors. The meteor
shower emanates from near and north of the bright star Arcturus in the
constellation of Bootes, rising in the northeast about midnight.

January 15-16 - DELTA CANCRID METEORS - Sounding more
like a disease than a meteor shower, the Delta Cancrids rise in the east about
the same time the sun sets in the west...thus it is nearly directly overhead at
midnight each year, in the constellation of Cancer. The shower radiant is actually just slightly
west of the bright and well-known naked eye star cluster, Prasepe or the
"beehive." Only about four
meteors per hour can be seen from this shower under good conditions, and this
year's NEW MOON will be absent from the
sky throughout the night after about 10 p.m., thus making this a terrific year
to observe these meteors ; I suggest setting up around 7 p.m. local time on Jan
15 for best views. Cold, but fun!

January 18 - COMA BERENICID METEORS - Also coming from
very close to a naked eye cluster, the Coma cluster, this meteor shower rises
about 10 p.m. (again, NO MOON on this night for this one!) and is directly
overhead at pre-dawn. These are among
the fastest meteors known....65 kps (compare to the Quadrantids, above)...BUT
expect only a couple of these swift interlopers per hour. The moon is absent and skies dark for this
one if you observe after 1 a.m. local time,
so this is a good year for observing this shower; perhaps some splendid
streaking meteors might be visible for those who brave the typically cold
nights of January.